4 days ago

first of all, no need to apologise for critisism, as this is YOUR deck, and i'm trying to both help you, improve my own deckbuilding and have a good conversation about way too expensive cardboard :). you can leave formalities behind and so will i, unless that discomforts you of course.

i like your view on cards, as it differs with mine. this is probably because of the difference in playgroups, e.g. the issue of big things getting countered. (this rarely happens in my group, mainly cause i am the blue player playing very little counterspells. destroying things is the way to go)

i have two different points i want to bring out there, first point is about your reaction on my post, the second one is going to be about your "craving" for piloting a versitile deck rather than winning with a sequenced set number of cards.

Clever Impersonator: i get the idea of why this card is in the deck. even though versatility is key, this card is not going to help you close out the game when you are on the winning hand (assuming being on the winning hand is having a far better board state). mirage mirror would be my go-to replacement for this card as it is more versitile. apart from biomancer and fathom mage there's not much to copy in your own deck, but that was never the point of Clever Impersonator.

Oran-Rief Hydra: if this is a spotholder for a huge creature that grows if left unchecked i would still stress that it would be replaced. this time around i found Heroes' Bane to be the better option. although it is not a big change, this would optimize mana-cost and add yet another way to spend mana.

never judge a book by its cover, i completely missed Zameck Guildmage his second ability.

is it right for me to say that having a lot of counters on one creature is more important than having lots of creatures with counters on them? if it is, then thrumming bird isnt really doing much. the inability of this deck (which isnt a bad thing per se) to easily place counters on creatures that haven't got any is what made me question Master Biomancer in the first place, after reading it today i realised it didnt need any counters to work. nevertheless in these 100 cards there are 5 cards that can give creatures counters: Plaxcaster Frogling, Master Biomancer, Zameck Guildmage, Bow of Nylea and Retreat to Kazandu. all of this gives me the feeling a proliferate trigger wont do much, same goes for hardened scales, as 1 more counter on a 13/13 hydra wouldnt make that much difference anymore. conclusion: consider taking out thrummingbird, hardened scales and retreat to kazandu.

to replace these cards you will need ramp, for your deck uses a lot of mana. i cant stress enough how important land based ramp is for your deck, as it is using a wild variety of hard-to-cast cards like Prime Speaker Zegana, Plasm Capture and Alchemist's Refuge, but i respect the issue at hand. i have come up with a small list of ramp that might counter the issue i know all too well: the pain of drawing cultivate in the most important part of the game.

5 days ago

Honestly, I find that to be a rampant misnomer in EDH, although the idea behind it is inherently a good one. The point of that saying is to ask yourself the question of "What can I do if my commander gets locked out?". A "good" commander deck simply has a suitable answer to that question, although unforutnately a lot of people take it to mean that a deck built around it's commander isn't as good as one that's simply abusing the colours.

This leads to an even larger discussion, however, surrounding HOW an opponent might lock your commander out. Interestingly, unlike most decks, our commander doesn't typically get locked out by destruction: With the amount of recursion our deck naturally incorporates, field wipes and other spot removal typically don't bother us too much- hell, I find myself pitching Sidisi to the graveyard more frequently than the command zone.

Our problem comes in the form of graveyard hate, and how to deal with it. Anafenza, the Foremost, Leyline of the Void, and Rest in Peace are some notable examples of cards that require our deck to "win by itself", so to speak. The trick is finding suitable answers in individual cards that also serve a greater purpose should we need. Creature-based grave-hate is fairly straightforward to answer: Make sure your deck runs a handful of spot removal options, and a sweeper or two. I see you're already running Ravenous Chupacabra, Putrefy, and Shriekmaw which are great starts. Non-creature grave-hate also has a fairly linear answer in the form of Reclamation Sage and Acidic Slime-like effects, and personally I'm a big fan of Krosan Grip thanks to the Split Second. Occasionally you'll be hit by things like Bojuka Bog or Tormod's Crypt, but these are merely one-time effects, and only slow you down; they never truly knock you out.

Ultimately, having answers to the effects that most-greatly impact your deck that are still usable even if you're NOT locked down is the end-goal. Hopefully this helps you out!

5 days ago

Alright, lemme hit a few notes here for the sake of discussion; Keep in mind that I'm only sharing my opinions and wholeheartedly appreciate everything you have to offer. Here's some respectful rebuttals for discussion:

Trinket Mage is in mostly to get the Ring or the Top, but i see your point. Initially I was thinking of something like Woodland Bellower into Trinket Mage into one of the abovementioned, just a little value play to pump my board, but that all doesn't feel in line with the counters strategy, but rather more of a control'y type maneuver.

Death's Presence is on a very short list of cards i have on hand, itching hard for a spot in the deck - but the reason it didn't make it is because of how situational it is, needing a creature to die, and a creature to absorb the counters, what feels like a flimsy situation in some games. Master Biomancer just felt more useful as a creature on board for less mana and a more consistent effect.

Lorescale Coatl caught my eye as well, and has been removed from the list as it really is just too slow (not that this deck is very fast to begin with).

I had considered Tuskguard Captain, but it's so much more effective to have flyers than tramplers, and having a guy that i need to tap to add counters to itself seems FAR too cumbersome.

With this deck hosting 30'ish creatures, and almost guaranteed a blue player at every table, i feel the need to make my creatures uncounterable, over untargetable. Nothing feels worse than trying to play a big dude just to have it countered and your turn wasted. Archetype of Endurance is in and out of this deck as much as any card, but it was easier for me to justify Asceticism (not that redundancy is a bad thing), it just feels flimsy to drop 8 mana into a creature that will more-than-likely face a Counterspell.

Young Wolf is a turn-1 play to get me on board. i have no intention of placing counters on it before its first undying trigger (think early chump blocker). Zameck Guildmage is little more than a draw engine, I'd rarely ever consider its first ability, I just want to keep cards in my hand.

I recognize the need for ramp, I just hate drawing those cards late game. Likewise, spending too much time ramping early tends to cost valuable early tempo and by half a dozen turns i have mana, but I've fallen well behind on board and am now at the mercy of my draws (or maybe I've just had some very unlucky experiences).

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